BY KATY LEROUGETEL
"It should only be the voice of French-speaking Quebecois
who have the right to vote, to figure out whether they want
independence," said Jacques Julien, a Steelworkers union member
in Montreal. He was discussing Canada's Supreme Court ruling
that a 50-percent-plus-one majority vote in favor of
independence would not be valid.
Alphone Beaudoin, a member of the same Steelworkers local, said Quebec's ruling party, the pro-sovereignty Parti Quebecois, had always favored negotiations with the rest of Canada, "If they [Ottawa's rulers] refuse to negotiate, that's another thing."
An International Association of Machinists (IAM) member working at Avcorp in Vancouver bought a copy of the new pamphlet distributed by Pathfinder Why Working People Should Support the Fight for Quebec Independence from a co-worker. He is already a Militant subscriber and supports this fight because he opposes discrimination.
The pamphlet, published by the Communist League in Canada, reprints an article by John Steele that appeared in the April 13, 1998, issue of the Militant.
"I'm happy with the ruling," said Gyamfi Fofie to fellow Steelworkers members after work in Toronto. "It's as if my daughter wanted to leave home, and I made sure that she had a serious discussion with me before she made her decision. But if she says, `Daddy, I'm leaving anyway' - what can I do, of course she can go."
"But you're assuming there's love between Quebec and Ottawa!" objected Guy Tremblay. "In reality, Ottawa discriminates against Quebec in everything." Two of his co- workers have bought the new pamphlet.
Debate at the Chrysler auto assembly line near Toronto got quite intense, reports Canadian Auto Workers member Vicky Mercier. A pro-Canada co-worker asked her to stand further away from him, since she supports Quebec independence.
An IAM member at Ford Electronics in Toronto who is Quebecois bought copies of the pamphlet in both English and French in order to read it herself and show it to others to convince them to support Quebec's fight.
Joe Young in Montreal and Ned Dmytryshyn in Vancouver contributed to this article.